Fifty years ago, if one were building a typical homebuilt design, there would long sessions with a steel-cutting bandsaw (or, gawd help you, a hacksaw) to cut out steel components out of flat sheets of 4130.

Nowadays, of course, there are companies that will take a digital file, and in a week or two, ship you a stack of the steel pieces you need.

My question is: What do I need to make this happen?

1. How do I find a company that does this? Any magic search terms?
2. What file format do they expect to receive?
3. What limitations should the drawings reflect (e.g., adjacent parts no closer than 1/4" to each other, etc.)
4. Do I need to supply the material myself? SHOULD I supply the material myself?
5. How precise will the work be?
6. How much post-processing (grinding, filing, etc.) are going to be necessary?
7. What's the usual turn-around time?
8. Minimum/maximum part thickness?
9. Restrictions/warnings on material (e.g., can't do aluminum, or steel must be re-tempered afterwards).
10. Any other cautions for the CAD-CAM-Curious?

Ron Wanttaja